UNRWA schools reopen in Gaza
Only a week after the devastating 22-day conflict ended UNRWA opened its 221 schools in the Gaza Strip and some 200 000 Palestine refugee children went back to school. Many UNRWA schools had served as emergency shelters, sheltering up to 50,000 people at the peak of the crisis. UNRWA's Elementary School for Boys and Girls in Beit Lahia became the scene of a tragic incident on the 16th of January, when an explosive shell that landed on the third floor of the school killed two brothers aged five and seven and injured 14, including the mother of the two killed boys. On Saturday the 24th of January the students returned to the Beit Lahia School. The students were not yet expected to study, as the teachers wanted to give them a chance to play and relax after the horrifying three weeks they had lived through. The teacher's took time to listen to all the stories the children had to tell.
Document Sources: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Subject: Children, Education and culture, Gaza Strip, Refugees and displaced persons
Publication Date: 24/01/2009